Cab thief nabbed, beaten after chase

JAKARTA: A suspected car thief Deni Moses was arrested early on Friday after a chase while he was trying to steal a Kosti Jaya taxi that was parked on Jl. Sunda, close to Sarinah shopping center in Central Jakarta.

The taxi driver, Khasan, said he left the car with the key in it and went to the nearest kiosk to buy cigarettes.

"Then I saw my cab moving forward and backward before it fled the parking spot," he told reporters at the Jakarta Police headquarters.

Khasan got help from four fellow taxi drivers parked nearby. They all chased the fleeing cab. A car belonging to the President's Security Detail (Paspampres) also joined the chase.

Eventually, on Jl. Dukuh Atas, one of the chasing taxis and the Paspampres car managed to cut off Deni's car and stop him.

Deni was physically assaulted by the chasers before he was turned in to the auto theft division of the city police. -- JP